What I did on my Winter Vacation

After New Years, Benson and I went on a 8-night cruise with two friends from undergrad, Abe and Zahava (Benson's college roommate and one of mine, who are now married to each other). They had gone on a cruise for their honeymoon this past fall (they were married last July) and enjoyed it so much they wanted to go on another one, and invited us to join. Since Benson and I are both grad students, we can basically set our own schedules as far as when we take vacations, limited only by our own 'grad student guilt' to draw us back to work, writing papers and doing research. So, we got back this morning from our lovely cruise to Florida and the Bahamas.

Giant Chess!

Benson and I have been on one cruise before, the year between our graduation from undergrad and my first year of graduate school. Note that while Benson went directly from one to the other, I in fact took a 'gap year' in which I did much traveling - though I can talk about THAT in another post. That cruise was on Norwegian Cruise Lines on the Norwegian Pearl, and was the first cruise ever for either one of us, and was lots of fun. So when A&Z invited us for this one, on the Carnival Miracle, we thought it would be a lot of fun. Since this cruise left from New York, it was also a lot easier to deal with (compared to the Norwegian one which left from Fort Lauterdale, Florida). Benson still had to fly in from California, of course, but he would have had to do that anyway to visit. Naturally, the first few sea days were a bit chillier than they would have been leaving from Florida, but there was plenty on board to do on the ship, especially with a pair of friends who enjoy playing board games and card games as much as Benson and I do, if not more. There was mini-golf, pools and water slides, giant chess, various shows, trivia, cheesy dance lessons, and comedy routines; plus between us we brought the game 'Settlers of Catan', poker cards, pinocle cards, 'Magic the Gathering' cards, mahjong cards, and last but not least, '1000 blank white cards.' If you have never heard of this last game, it's OK - you don't buy these. You literally get a blank stack of index cards and make up your own game, draw your own cards, and watch how it develops over time, with the goal to just enjoy yourselves and have the most fun you can (if you actually want instructions, Google it). My closest group of friends in undergrad played this game throughout college, and by the end we had well over 1000 blank white cards (which were no longer blank, of course!). Abe has tried to widdle down the deck a bit to something more portable, since he's in charge of our now enormous deck. Its a good game for a large group of friends with lots of in-jokes and people of various drawing ability.

The Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center

So yes, there were plenty of things to do. In addition, we had three port days: Fort Canavral (Florida), Nassau (the Bahamas), and Freeport (the Bahamas). We didn't book any of the over-priced official ship excursions. For the first port, we took a shuttle to the Kennedy Space Center and bought our own tickets (which, including the cab, was literally half the price of the excursion which did the same thing, only with a large group). This was a lot of fun. Obviously, I like space things. The various exhibits focused more on the rockets, people, and general history of the shuttle and space program than the science behind it or gleaned from it, but it was really cool seeing everything up close. Alas, since the shuttle program has ended (SEND MORE FUNDING TO NASA), we couldn't watch any shuttle launches or anything, and as it was a foggy day we couldn't get a very clear view of the launch site, but there was a fun motion simulator ride which simulated being on a shuttle launch. Somehow I don't think we actually felt 3g's, however! But it was a really fun day.

The other two days were in the Bahamas, so we pretty much just spent them on the beach, in the ocean, and walking around town a bit. Zahava's a big swimmer (as in, she is on a swim team and does competitions) and lent Benson and I some goggles so we could all look under the lovely, clear Bahamas water at what was underneath. Mostly sand and seaweed, but we did see a few urchins, conch shells, and tiny silver fish! So we swam, lay in the sun, played cards on the beach, and walked around a bit (including having some delicious fish fry and conch salad) for the better part of two days.

Zahava and Abe, swimming in the Bahamas

However, the main thing that you do on a cruise line is eat. So Comedy Brunch with delicious eggs benedict and other goodies, with a different comedian most days, then lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet (with ice cream machines), then afternoon tea with various desserts and snackables, then a late dinner at 8:15 (we got the late dining option) where you can order as many appetizers, entrees, and desserts as you can desire. The result of this last meal was me eating THREE lobster tails (along with some appetizers and vegetable sides) one night, simply because I could keep ordering them. Benson also ate three, and Abe was the champion eating FOUR. Similarly, one could order more than one steak, more than one shrimp cocktail, etc etc etc. Other dining highlights included frog legs, prime rib, souffle, chateaubriand, various shrimp dishes, beef carpaccio, and french onion soup. So we ate pretty well, too!

Formal Night: Benson and I

I also really enjoyed the formal nights that Carnival has: for longer cruises, on two nights you are supposed to bring 'formal' clothing to dress up really nice. So I brought my two bridesmaid dresses from this past year to wear - it was nice to have an excuse to wear them again, honestly - how often do you dress to that level of formality? Plus it is always nice to see Benson in a suit - honestly, most people look great in formal clothing, in fact, so just looking around the ship at everyone was kind of cool. On the first formal night, since I was feeling fancy, I decided to try out the ships casino, but was quite unhappy to discover that, although they had penny and quarter slots (which are about my price range for gambling), you couldn't actually PHYSICALLY stick coins into them. You had to make an account and stick your little sailing card into the machines, and any winnings or losing were automatically added or deducted to your card. This is NO FUN.

When I gamble, I go into it like I go into an arcade (I actually tend to enjoy myself more in arcades than casinos, honestly - I grew up going to arcades every summer on the Jersey shore in Wildwood!). I expect to lose any money I put forth, with the goal of enjoying myself for a bit of time and getting perhaps a little of the lost money back. But I consider it lost when I stick it in the machine (or whatever), and putting the coin in the slot, or whatever, and hearing the jangling of coins falling down is one of the pleasures of gambling. Seeing a little number balance go up and down on a screen? Not so much fun. The only game on the cruise that you could put coins into was one of those "quarter fall" games, with little pushers which maybe push quarters over the edge. So I played that for a little while until I ran out of quarters. But besides losing perhaps $3 of quarters, I otherwise didn't gamble. And if they'd had had coins operated machines, I would have. Their loss! I gambled far more on the senior trip in college at Foxwoods, when we went to a casino and I could actually put physical money down. THAT trip was great - and I actually won about $30 on poker, which I wasn't expecting. I had gone into it with the goal of losing perhaps no more than $30 anyway. However, the next week was the Belmont stakes, and, when I went with my friend Erica, I blew all $30 on various horses that didn't win (at $5 per horse - isn't my gambling crazy excessive?). So it evens out!  But I had a lot of fun both times, is the point.

Carnival Cruise ship

All in all, it was a very enjoyable cruise. Comparing it to the Norwegian Cruise Line, I tend to think Norwegian had better shows and activities on board, but there was plenty to do on Carnival and I'd be happy to go on that line again. The food on both cruises were pretty good, Norwegian had a different style for dinner, and which is preferable is a matter of choice. On Carnival, there was always all-you-can-eat-buffet open most of the time, with certain sections always open (the pizza, for example), plus a main dining hall you had a standing reservation for, with lots of changing menu options each night. On Norwegian, you also had a similar set-up with the buffet, but instead of a main restaurant, instead you had several different restaurants you could set up reservations for (all included, except a few that had, say, a $10 surcharge). Each restaurant also had changing menus, but the restaurants were themed (Italian, American, Steak, French, etc). So you had more overall variety and choice in what you ate, but couldn't try everything. I think I prefer Norwegian's set up in general, though there were nights you couldn't get reservations at the place you wanted at the time you wanted, so Carnivals standing reservations system did work well. The Comedy Brunches on Carnival were also a win. So, it depends what you want, I think. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either cruise line.